arielnietzsche:

Two Palestinian brothers were deported to Egypt by the US government despite their stateless status, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee stated today:

The brothers, originally from Gaza, were taken by ICE and the U.S. Air Marshalls from their children in Texas and sent to Egypt. The brothers do not have permission to stay in Egypt. Further, due to the blockade of Gaza and Israeli polices they cannot enter Palestine. The brothers are currently detained at the airport in Cairo, and appear likely to be detained indefinitely.

Movement in and out of Gaza has been severely restricted for years and Palestinians do not have control of the borders of their country; all of the land of historic Palestine is under the control of the Israeli apartheid government, aided and abetted by the US. Gaza has also endured five years of Israeli blockade, impacting all areas of life — a policy supported by the US government. Gaza also has yet to be rebuilt after Israel’s three weeks of attacks in the winter of 2008-09 — attacks that killed 1,400 Palestinians who had nowhere to flee, attacks which decimated civilian infrastructure and targeted schools and places of worship, and which were perpetrated with US-supplied weaponry.

Meanwhile, Palestinians advocating for their national rights in the US have been persecuted.

For example, Dr. Sami al-Arian is a stateless Palestinian who has lived in the US for more than 30 years and has been targeted for his political activity. He is under house arrest, awaiting deportation. His daughter, journalist Laila al-Arian, told The Electronic Intifada in 2010:

“…we really hope that there will be a country that will open its doors to a persecuted political prisoner and a victim of the Bush administration, a victim of a wave of anti-Palestinian activism. It’s mind-boggling that in the 21st century, there is a group of people who don’t have a country. Hopefully someone will be able to adopt him. It’s one more battle we have to fight.”

anticapitalist:

In December, Randa Adnan said, her husband weighed just over 200 pounds. Visiting him in an Israeli hospital this week, Randa said, she found her 33-year-old spouse, Khader Adnan, now weighs no more than 121 pounds.

“It is something beyond description, as there is no sign of life in him — this is how I found him,” she said.

The dramatic and life-threatening loss of weight comes as Khader Adnan passes day 55 in a hunger strike to protest his arrest and detention by Israeli security personnel on December 17 of last year.

The nearly two-month protest marks the longest hunger strike in Palestinian history and is a high-stakes move that is bringing increasing scrutiny to Israeli’s arrest and detention policies for Palestinians.

What a fucking boss.

(via grave-wisdom-deactivated2012042)

verbalresistance:

Israeli Arab says court’s decision to reject petition against law will lead to ‘expulsion of thousands of families.’ Rahat resident: Why are we being treated like enemies?

The State has “declared war on Israeli-Arabs,” an attorney from the village of Qara said Thursday in response to the High Court of Justice’s decision to reject another petition against a law which aims to limit the reunification of Palestinian and Arab-Israeli families.

Hatam Iyat and his Palestinian wife of 11 years, Yasmin, have four children. “The Citizenship Law will lead to the expulsion of thousands of families from the country. My wife’s life in Israel has become temporary. The Right has triumphed in its racist campaign,” he said. “But we will not remain silent; we will take action against the law.”

The law, which was passed by the Knesset in 2003, states that the interior minister is entitled to grant citizenship only if the West Bank applicant has made a strong enough case that he identifies with the State of Israel and that he or his family members have cooperated with Israel or made a contribution to its security.

It appears that only a few will be able to meet these criteria.

Iyat added: “My children are asking me now whether they’ll have to live without their mother. She has been living without rights as it is. Every few months she has had to renew her temporary residency permit. She can’t even get a driver’s license. She can’t teach, and if, god forbid, one of our kids becomes sick she can’t take him to the clinic – she has to call me, and I have to leave work to do it for her.

“We are afraid to travel to Nablus because we are always held up at roadblocks. When security personnel see that she doesn’t hold an Israeli identification card they delay us for hours. Sometimes we are not allowed to pass. We couldn’t travel abroad to celebrate our anniversary because my wife was not permitted to leave the country,” the attorney complained.

A mother of two from Tamra said the law will “ruin” her family. “My husband left Nablus seven years ago, and since then we’ve been living here, but he has not been granted citizenship. Essentially he lives here without any rights, and the law that was upheld by the court yesterday means that our family will be destroyed. We won’t be able to live without him,” she said.

“I wake up each morning fearing something will happen to him at work, because in case of an accident he is not entitled to adequate medical treatment. The law basically says ‘you can all die,’” she said.

Najah Alqadi was born and raised in the West Bank but has been living with her husband, an Israeli citizen, in the Bedouin town of Rahat for the past 16 years. During this time she has visited her family back home only twice because the State has not allowed her to enter the territories for four years. During this time her parents passed away.

Alqadi, who has been fighting cancer for years, claims her husband has to pay nearly all of her medical bills because she is not eligible for insurance. “This law is inhumane. We are innocent people. Why are we being treated like enemies? We won’t accept this,” she said.

Shahar Shoham, head of the Migrants and Persons with No Civil Status Department at Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said, “Apart from the fundamental violation of Arab Israelis’ rights, the law will create a reality in which thousands of people who are married to Israeli citizens will continue to live without any civil status or social rights.”

ynet

(via pieceinthepuzzlehumanity-deacti)

verbalresistance:

stay-human:

You all know astrangerdanger, you know how awesome he is, go do this now!

#evenifyoudon’tknowhimgodothisI’mtellingyouhe’samazing

This is actually downright ridiculous!

If you ever needed proof, of how higher authorities in our ‘free’ countries monitor and manipulate the internet to try and quash dissenting opinions, or keep an eye on information that highlights their injustices (such as Mohammed’s blog does, as do most of ours)… well, here it is.

This also highlights the long-known ‘facts on the ground’ that the West Bank and Palestine (where Mohammed was) is under a restrictive occupation - where Israel restricts freedoms for, and monitors, Palestinians as they please… in line with their own imperialistic/colonialist ‘security’ paranoia.

“the middle Easts only free and democratic country” - hah, good one.

You should all send the lovely brother words of support, and check out his blog if you hadn’t already; something needs to be done, if he can be questioned for his online activities, so can each and every one of us.